REGARDLESS of whether Wayne Gretzky retires Sunday or in a week of Sundays, he holds a sign-of-the-times distinction that can only be equaled and never surpassed.

Gretzky is the first in any team sport to be identified as the best in his field while being unable to be identified as synonymous with any one team.

Two years ago, in a poll conducted by The Hockey News, Gretzky was voted the greatest player in NHL history. Yet, the team he first starred for, the Edmonton Oilers, he hasn’t played for in 11 years. He left Edmonton for Los Angeles in 1988 when he was 28 years old. He played nearly eight years for the Kings, part of a season for the St. Louis Blues, then three years in New York.

That all hockey fans of all ages cannot, in unison, immediately call out the same name of the one team that Gretzky forever will be associated with provides modern team sports with a dubious distinction that was inevitable.

That Gretzky’s No. 99 at the back of his jersey is more familiar in the mind’s eye than the team name on the front of his jersey is, after all, what sports had to become.

There’s no hesitation involved. They’re synonymous with a single team.

Gretzky is the first of his kind, the first “best in show” who was both forced and chose to follow the money. It doesn’t make Gretzky a bad guy. He did nothing to dishonor his game nor his name. Quite the contrary. But he’s the first journeyman All-Time Greatest. Sign of the times.

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MARC STEVENS, 10 years the No. 2 Ch. 7 News sportscaster behind Scott Clark, will leave the station in a couple of months to become the lead sports anchor for the CBS affiliate in Denver. And when Stevens leaves, he’ll also, at long last, be able to get his good name back.

Stevens’ real name is Marc Soicher, which is the name he’ll use in Denver. When he arrived in New York station management encouraged him to change his name. Why? Because that’s the way TV news executives think.

The first thing TV news men and women learn is that cosmetics – superficialities – are at least as important as the facts, be they facts about the news they report or the person reporting the news.

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WHILE we generally like what ESPN2 has done with its Friday night boxing series, we sincerely hope that those ESPN folks who were eager to have Vinnie Pazienza fight last week are as eager to visit him when he becomes the youngest resident in his nursing home.

After all, three or more years ago it was painfully obvious to even the uninitiated that Pazienza could ill afford another shot to the head. So how did this evidence elude the boxing experts at ESPN?

By the way, Tommy Hearns, 40 years old and as sharp as a cotton ball, fought on the Prince Naseem Hamed (HBO) undercard, Saturday night. HBO, to its credit, would not televise Hearns’ fight, wanting no part in sustaining a career that should’ve ended 10 years ago when Hearns first began to slur his speech and his eyes first showed up watery and vacant.

But in Pazienza and Hearns, and in the wake of the Evander Holyfield-Lennox Lewis outrage, we see, once again, that there’s no scandal great enough to rescue boxing from boxing.

Emanuel Steward, after Holyfield-Lewis, spoke sagaciously of how the decision was what was wrong with the sport, of how people in the boxing business are so damned eager to do dirt to boxers and boxing .

Weeks later, Steward, Hearns’ long-time handler and friend, escorted Hearns into the ring for a few more shots of what ails him.

Steward, over the weekend, said the time is approaching for Hearns to hang ’em up. Is that right, Emanuel? Ya don’t say. Check, please!

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LAWRENCE TAYLOR not only still doesn’t get it, it’s unlikely he ever will. Taylor is featured tonight at 10:30 in ESPN’s year-long “50 Greatest Athletes of the Century” series. Taylor has been deemed No. 40.

A couple of weeks ago, Taylor agreed to sit for the ESPN segment while filming an Oliver Stone movie. When ESPN arrived, the network’s producer was startled, to say the least.

Taylor was wearing a sheer black stocking “wave cap,” one that covered the top of his head. He also wore sunglasses, his dangling “LT” earring, black gloves and a black pullover shirt. He looked like a terrorist or as if he was taking a breather between knocking over liquor stores.

The producer suggested that Taylor might want to remove the stocking cap, or the shades, or the gloves, or all three. After all, the interview would be conducted as part of a series that is designed for posterity. But, no, Taylor said this is how he chooses to appear.

Given the fact that the segment addressed Taylor’s recidivist criminal past, Taylor’s chosen manner of appearance ensured that he very much looked the part, the jerk.

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CONGRATS to Hank Aaron, who, last week on the eve of the 25th anniversary of breaking Babe Ruth’s career home-run record, paid honor to his sport, his achievements and his enormous, self-declared dignity by appearing on the QVC home-shopping network to peddle his autograph.

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FOX Sports News anchor Keith Olbermann Tuesday after reporting that UConn star Khalid El-Amin had been arrested with less than four ounces of pot, suggested that because he was charged with possession of only a small quantity, “His stock will rise in the NBA Draft.”